A phone as a door key wins at CES

Kwikset, a hardware and home improvement brand with offices in Lake Forest, won a CES Innovations award earlier this month for its Kevo deadbolt door lock. COURTESY OF KWIKSET

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Things like brain-wave controlled toys or self-driving cars seem to take home awards from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas – but a door lock?

Kwikset, a hardware and home improvement brand with offices in Lake Forest, won a CES Innovations award this month for its Kevo deadbolt door lock. It impressed an audience enough to beat out about 95 other products in the Last Gadget Standing competition hosted at the huge electronics event.

What's so cool about Kevo? It can open the lock by talking to your cellphone. In other words, your phone is the key. The unit costs about $220 and features a normal keyhole as well, but uses relatively new Bluetooth 4.0 technology to talk to cellphones equipped with the same version of the wireless technology. You touch the lock with your finger and it begins looking for your phone. If it's nearby, you're in.

You can have other people install the Kevo app and send them virtual keys to get into your home. The virtual keys can be revoked or reassigned using the app, and it uses encryption to protect against hacking. It's designed to be installed by homeowners and operates with four AA batteries, which Kwikset says should last about a year before needing to be replaced. It's available in some stores and online at homedepot.com.

– Ian Hamilton

On the move

Dieter Hissin has joined Island Hotel Newport Beach, a hotel owned and operated by Irvine Co. Resort Properties, as general manager. Hissin previously served as general manager at Balboa Bay Resort, where he worked for 18 years.

Jose Lynch, president and chief operating officer of Skilled Healthcare Group, a Foothill Ranch owner and operator of long-term care facilities, is leaving the company to pursue other opportunities. CEO Bob Fish will lead the company's long-term care operations division while executive search firm Korn/Ferry International helps Skilled Healthcare find a successor.

New ventures

AqueSys Inc., an Aliso Viejo company that's developing an implant to treat glaucoma, has secured $43.6 million in Series D financing. Previous investors Accuitive Medical Ventures, The Carlyle Group, Longitude Capital, Rho Ventures, and SV Life Sciences participated in the round, which was led by an unnamed new investor. The company will use the funds to reach its goals more quickly.

Customers of the Sprint wireless service can now read Spanish voice-mail messages as text, thanks to technology from Aliso Viejo-based Smith Micro Software Inc. Spanish-language transcription, which is being launched first on the Sprint network, is a new feature of Smith's CommSuite package of services for wireless carriers. Sprint's voice mail-to-text service is available on Android and Windows Phone 8 devices.

Sperry Van Ness International Corp., an Irvine-based commercial real estate brokerage franchiser, has opened Sperry Van Ness/Land Run Commercial in Oklahoma City. Land Run Commercial Real Estate Advisors, owned by Johnathan Russell, is the new venture's parent company.

Good works

Japanese carmaker Mazda, whose North American headquarters are in Irvine, launched the Racing Accelerates Creative Education program to show middle school and high school students how science, technology, engineering and math are applied in real-world situations. The program is led by the company's racing arm, which will visit at least 12 schools as it travels to racing events this year. Mazda engineers and professional drivers will give presentations that involve a diesel prototype car and a racing transporter like the one used as a center of operations at races.

AC Pro, an air conditioning company with two Orange County locations, will donate $5,113 to the Wildwood religious youth camp to fulfill a commitment made as part of a social media campaign. AC Pro pledged to donate one dollar for every new “like” it received on its Facebook page during December to the camp, which is operated by Hume Lake Christian Camps in Fresno County.

Overheard

"This is the latest fashion in financial engineering, until the roof comes off and someone changes the rules." - David Pyott, CEO of Allergan Inc. in Irvine, in a Bloomberg interview, talking about drugmakers that are making acquisitions in Ireland to lower corporate taxes. Pyott says he doesn't plan to follow in their footsteps.

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